British Americana singer, Yola appears to be on an unstoppable winning streak of late! It has just been announced that she will play the roll of legendary music icon, Sister Rosetta Tharpe – dubbed the Godmother of rock and roll – in Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming musical film, Elvis.
The news follows on from the break-out success of her critically acclaimed, genre-bending debut album, Walk Through Fire, produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, which put a very contemporary twist on traditional orchestral, Motown production and earned the British singer four Grammy Award nominations, including best new artist, just nine months after its February 2019 release.
Yola | “Faraway Look”
Elvis will be Luhrmann’s first film since his 2013 adaptation of The Great Gatsby. Austin Butler will star in the title role of Elvis, alongside Tom Hanks as Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, Maggie Gyllenhaal as Presley’s mother and Rufus Sewell his father. The script – co-written by Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce and Sam Bromell – revolves around the veteran manager Colonel Parker and young singer, Elvis, who rose from dirt-poor origins to become perhaps THE most unsurpassable music icons of all time, forever changing the course of music history and popular culture along the way.
Yola will star in the role of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, dubbed the Godmother of rock and roll, who gained popularity in the 1930s and 40s through her experimental gospel recordings which were a major influence on a young Elvis Presley's early career, along with many of his peers, including Chuck Berry Johnny Cash. The rock and roll pioneer’s 1944 single, “Strange Things Happening Every Day” was the first gospel single to cross over on the Billboard charts. She was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.
Bob Dylan described Sister Rosetta Tharpe as “anything but ordinary and plain” on his Theme Time Radio Hour show. “She was a big, good-lookin’ woman, and divine, not to mention sublime and splendid. She was a powerful force of nature. A guitar-playin’, singin’ evangelist.”
This influence has undoubtedly been passed down to Yola’s 2019 debut solo album, Walk Through Fire – a work that conjures the sound of the late '60s in a modern, psychedelic meld of country, R&B, gospel, pop and rock, all seamlessly blended by the break out British singer's deep, smoky, mesmerising voice.
Yola is headed to Australia in April to join the mammoth lineup performing at the upcoming Bluesfest in Byron Bay – read more here.
Listen to Walk Through Fire on Spotify:
Listen to Walk Through Fire on Apple Music:
